As local teachers unions around the state walk out of their classrooms to go on strike, one union representative has admitted what the Freedom Foundation and others have already pointed out: Public employee strikes in Washington are illegal.
On April 19, Rich Dustin, a member of the Public School Employees (SEIU Local 1948) Legislative Council, tweeted:
If they’ve rigged the game, why do we still insist on playing by their rules? There’s a reason strikes are illegal. They work.
— r.m. dustn (@rdustin) April 19, 2015
Unfortunately, because state law does not specify penalties for strikes, it is up to local school boards to pursue legal action against the union. Although Washington courts have a long history of ruling against striking teachers, the length and difficulty of pursuing judicial remedies makes it nearly impossible to stop one-day walkouts.
A brief review of Dustin’s twitter account, however, indicates he isn’t likely very concerned about abiding by the law.
A few examples (warning: contains profanity):
No, I don’t want to sing Kumbaya. I want to burn the neo-liberal corporatocracy to the ground & dance upon its ashes in a pagan fit.
— r.m. dustn (@rdustin) April 19, 2015
Will the regime you so love perish by the default of its own nature? I sure the fuck hope so.
— r.m. dustn (@rdustin) April 24, 2015
if your heroes would have behaved nicely, communism would never have existed…
— r.m. dustn (@rdustin) April 12, 2015
All cops should have their fire arms confiscated and be forced into the streets and learn to deal with it. #blacklivesmatter
— r.m. dustn (@rdustin) April 9, 2015
Apparently, Dustin has no problem appealing to the law when he thinks it works in his favor:
Lawmakers can’t mandate $1,000 annual raises for state workers http://t.co/Pc0topi5ii #GOP knew $1K was bullshit or dumb #WasteOfTime #WaLeg
— r.m. dustn (@rdustin) April 9, 2015
As the Freedom Foundation has pointed out, however, there is nothing illegal about the state Senate’s proposed budget. Furthermore, as a labor activist, Dustin’s opposition to the Senate budget is a little perplexing, given that it actually does more to address income inequality than the House budget.
The crudity of Dustin’s comments makes it hard to take him too seriously. Still, perhaps his comments are indicative of the type of views held by SEIU leaders that they rarely dare to share so frankly in public.
